Wal-Mart expects flat holiday sales; reports gains in third quarter

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. expect same-store sales during the critical fourth-quarter (holiday shopping season) to be flat or down 1%, company execs noted in Wal-Mart’s third quarter earnings statement released early Thursday (Nov. 12).

Total company sales for the first nine months of the fiscal year (ended Oct. 31) were $294.563 billion, down 0.3% from the same period in 2008. Net income for the nine-month period was $9.725 billion, up 2.7% from the same period in 2008.

For the third quarter, Bentonville-based Wal-Mart posted net income of $3.246 billion, up 7% from the 2008 quarter. Also, the company’s per share earnings of 84 cents exceeded the consensus analyst estimates of 81 cents per share. Total revenue in the third quarter was $99.411 billion, up 1% over the 2008 quarter.

“The sales environment continued to be difficult this quarter, but customer traffic is up throughout the company,” Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke said in a statement. “We gained market share, especially in the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico, as customers around the globe continued to count on Walmart for quality and low prices.”

But Wal-Mart’s warning of flat holiday sales was not welcome news for market watchers searching for some sign of consumer life during the important holiday shopping season.

The company’s same store sales were up 2.4% in the 2008 fourth quarter, but warned that the 13-week period in 2009 could be flat.

Futures trading was down in most of the key markets, including the Dow Jones and S&P, early Thursday.